The Mississippi Supreme Court has imposed a $500 fine, in addition to a public reprimand and $200 in costs, on a judge who failed to timely reveal in an asbestos lawsuit tried in his courtroom that family members had been involved in asbestos litigation against several of the defendants and that his father had submitted an asbestos-related claim to the bankruptcy trustee for one of the defendant’s suppliers. Miss. Comm’n on Jud. Performance v. Bowen, No. 2013-JP-00776-SCT (Miss., decided October 3, 2013). The judge also refused to reveal his father’s name when asked. After trial, the judge then failed to rule on the motion to recuse filed by one of the defendants, which appealed to the state high court and secured a ruling that "a reasonable person, knowing all the circumstances, would have doubts regarding Judge Bowen’s impartiality in the case."
Additional information about the court’s disqualification of the judge appears in the October 13, 2011, Issue of this Report. The jury verdict exonerating the defendants of liability on retrial is summarized in the May 10, 2012, Issue of this Report.
Finding the judge’s action intentional, noting that the parties were forced to incur the expense of a second trial after the substituted judge hearing the case vacated the jury verdict and reversed all of Judge Bowen’s rulings and orders, and reporting that media outlets made the public aware of the matter, the supreme court added a fine to the judicial commission’s recommended sanction. It also stated that the judge’s "actions compromised the integrity and independence of the judiciary and his duties as a judicial officer."
